Life Uncommon
by Seal
Summary: This is a series of vignettes about the life of Callista Ming's life before she died on the Eye. Callie fans welcome!!!


A/N: Hello, all you wonderful readers! This is going to end up being a collection of stories about the life of Callista Ming before she died on the Eye of Palpatine. (In these stories, her last name is J'asék.) It will highlight important events in her life, along with some good ol' original ideas. I hope you enjoy - and one more thing. If you're a Luke/Mara fan, and are here simply to flame, leave now. You guys have your universe of L/M fics. Leave us Callie lovers our little haven. 'Nuff said, not going to say it again.  
  
Also - I want to thank all my buddies.  
  
Sari: she helped me come up with the name for Callie's father, and allowed me to use her name for her stepmother. She also came up with the last name for Callista and her father.  
  
Sarah-jane: her talents have inspired me to keep writing.  
  
Alex: she has kept me laughing through all the hard times.  
  
And Rebers: she keeps my spirits up and injects humor into the oddest places.  
  
Thanks a bunch, guys.  
  
  
  
"What's the difference between a hero and a coward? Nothing. They're both afraid of getting hurt or dying, but it's what the hero does than makes him a hero, and what the coward doesn't do that makes him a coward."  
  
~Unknown  
  
  
  
The Little Spark (of the Force)  
  
It was dark outside.  
  
It was dark outside because it was three in the morning, but Callista didn't care. It was her first day of vacation, and she was going to go ride a cy'een. And, so Papa and Uncle Claine wouldn't get mad, she'd take the cows with her, to feed.  
  
It was the end of the school's fall term, when winter was setting in. Around this time of year children were helping their families with the herds, so the school had decided to end the term during the ice months.  
  
Today was the beginning of the ice months, and Callista loved the thrill of riding her cy'een, all alone, with the close danger of getting stuck in an ice floe surrounding her. She wasn't afraid. She knew she could get out. She didn't know how she knew, she just did, and accepted it.  
  
Clucking softly to a black and bronze cy'een, she released it from it's restraints and led it up to the edge of the dock. Placing a saddle on it's back, she slowly got onto it, leaving her booted feet dangling in the water.  
  
The cy'een reared, nearly throwing Callista off. She made a wild grab it's mane, and hung on. Soothing the creature by rubbing it's side and whispering soft words in his ear, she guided it over to the cow pen.  
  
The cow pen held the cows in during the evening, as they were free to roam during the day. Quietly, she opened the gate, allowing about ten cows to slip through. She didn't want too many of them with her, as they would slow her down.  
  
Ghostly white and lumbering, the cows were the center of the family milk business. Also, some of their young were sold off to beginning entrepreneurs hoping to have a cut. Chad's cow milk was a specialty for young children, for it's sweet sugary taste also satisfied nutritional needs.  
  
Finally out in the wide, open ocean, Callista flung her head back and laughed. Her long mane of malt colored hair whipped out behind her, and she took a huge lungful of the salty air. The cy'een was nearly flying through the water at fast speeds, and while it took all the strength her eight-year old body could muster, she simply adored it.  
  
***  
  
Something was wrong.  
  
Sari had woken early, confused why she had done so. She never woke early, always rising at the same time. Gaem always said she slept like a log, for he never felt her turning in their bed.  
  
In any case, she had done so, and on her way to the kitchen for something to help her sleep, she had noticed the light in Callista's room was on. So she went to turn it off. Naturally.  
  
But Callista was not there.  
  
Immediately, she had gone and woken Gaem, Callista's father, and he had run to the corrals. There they had found the gate left slightly open, and a cy'een missing. Gaem wouldn't have been worried - Callista was strong and talented enough that he didn't have to be - but for Sari's feeling of dread.  
  
That feeling had just scaled upwards.  
  
***  
  
  
  
Callista had to admit to herself, that at least this time, it was all her fault, and she had no idea how to fix the terrible mess she was in.  
  
She hadn't really been paying attention to where she was going, as she had been enjoying the wind in her face too much. She just let the cows go where they wanted, though that couldn't have been the smartest thing to do. While they were in a relatively small area, that area was near the Artic Circle.  
  
And so she had ended up stuck in an ice pack, with panicking cows.  
  
"Great," she muttered to herself. Even her cy'een seemed frightened. An ice floe creaked, making the already jumpy cy'een jump. She was not prepared for it, and the buck sent her into the icy water.  
  
Coming up, gasping for air, Callista's hair and eyelashes immediately froze in the frigid air, and she was soaked through, to her now chilled body.  
  
"This was not one of my better ideas."  
  
Clambering back upon her cy'een's back, she hugged it for the little warmth the creature gave off. Suddenly, Callista felt very small, very alone, very cold - and very tired.  
  
***  
  
Gaem had tried calling Callista on her comlink, but he only received static. Fearing the worst, he had called his brother Claine, and when he arrived they would go search for the girl.  
  
Sitting on the couch, Sari had her head buried in her arms. Feeling her husband sit next to her and put his arm behind her, she stiffened. She didn't understand this man, nor his child. Why would Callista have gone out - at late night or early morning - to play in the ocean when she could be sleeping? Why couldn't Gaem control her?  
  
She felt she could never comprehend either of them.  
  
***  
  
Callista was falling asleep.  
  
She knew she shouldn't, knew it was dangerous to even let her body slow down in the cold climate, but she was.  
  
And she knew that she didn't have much time left.  
  
'If I could only break up these ice floes.' she thought. Her mind was wandering, the line between consciousness and unconsciousness becoming fuzzy. Her mind drifted to the stories of the Jedi who had saved themselves from many dangerous situations with their powers.  
  
'If a Jedi were here,' she thought, 'they would just push the ice away,' mentally doing the same. Suddenly a loud breaking sound made Callista start from where she was laying on the cy'een.  
  
A small portion of the ice had been broken away directly in front of Callista. It had been shot straight out and was drifting about twenty-five meters away.  
  
  
  
***  
  
Papa and Uncle Claine were still searching for Callista when they found her leading the cowherd home. Tired, wet and cold, she was able to tell them little more than she had gotten trapped, and somehow had been freed.  
  
Later that day, after she had slept, and been notified that she was sentenced to her room for a month, Gaem had asked Callista what had really happened out in the ice floe.  
  
"I'm not sure," she responded, "but I think I pushed the ice away with my mind." Callista was remembering all the stories she had heard about the Jedi, and how she seemed to have done what they could do - which was impossible, of course.  
  
Gaem had either been unable to understand, or unwilling to accept what it might mean, but Callista continued to postulate at to what she had actually done.  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Callista or Uncle Claine, or Callista's life and adventures. They belong to the wonderful Barbara Hambly. I do own her father and stepmother's name, for what they're worth. The story title belongs to Jewel, and the chapter title belongs to Bad Haggis. 


End file.
